Downward angle icon Downward angle icon. ChatGPT offers some advice that makes sense, but also some that most people would never follow. wakashi1515/iStock/Getty Images I also asked ChatGPT for its best travel tips and tricks, hoping to learn something new. Some of the AI chatbot’s suggestions were practical, like using a packing app, while others were more outlandish. Suggestions included putting teabags in your shoes, leaving your phone at home, and using a hula hoop to navigate crowds.
After using ChatGPT to plan a recent trip, I wondered if it could help me hack my travels even further.
I asked the AI bot to give me some travel tips and tricks that I hadn’t seen before.
The first tips ChatGPT gave me were pretty standard: roll your clothes, use packing cubes, download offline maps, etc. Nothing outside of what I already knew from TikTok, travel blogs, and experience.
So I asked again hoping to hear some more unique tips.
Here’s where it gets interesting: ChatGPT’s proposals ranged from surprisingly practical to downright bizarre.
“Let’s get a power strip ready.”
On a recent trip to Switzerland, I had my laptop, my phone, an external phone battery, AirPods, and a camera with a battery, so a power strip wasn’t a bad idea since I would need to charge things frequently.
Conclusion: I almost followed this advice, but my suitcase was already pretty full and I wasn’t sure if it would be safe to plug an American power strip into a Swiss outlet.
I’m not an electrical engineer and don’t like experimenting with electric currents. Still, it seems like a good idea for traveling around the country.
“Please bring a reusable shopping bag.”
I have a reusable shopping bag that folds up into a mini tote bag. Morgan McFall Johnsen
ChatGPT suggested bringing reusable bags to use for souvenir and grocery shopping abroad.
This tip seems reasonable and practical, especially if you’re traveling to places where plastic bags are no longer provided.
Plus, many brands make reusable bags that fold up flat and small so they don’t take up a lot of space in your bag.
Bottom line: I’ll do this next time I travel.
Use a packing app
I had never heard of a packing app before, but ChatGPT recommended PackPoint to me, so I gave it a try ahead of a recent trip to visit family.
PackPoint will ask you how many days you’ll be traveling, where you’re going to check the weather, and what activities you’ll do there.
For example, there are preset packing lists that you can add if you are planning to go to the gym, go camping, go to the beach, etc.
I customized my packing list of essentials with PackPoint, adding items like scrunchies and Dramyns. Screenshot from PackPoint
I had to chuckle a little when I saw PackPoint’s preset list. It recommended that I bring two watches, one casual and one formal, since I’ll be working while traveling. It also recommended that I bring shorts, even though it’s winter.
However, you can customize the default list for a one-time payment of $3.
After paying, I removed non-packing items like a printed itinerary and added my essentials like a face mask and a water bottle.
Bottom line: I love making lists and I create a new packing list every time I travel, but I find it useful to use a customized list of essentials as a starting point whenever I go on a trip.
This app may actually save you time on your future trips.
“Silicone cupcake liner cord organizer”
The cupcake liners were too small for many of my cords and cables. Insider
Phone chargers, laptop chargers, and other cords inevitably get tangled up in your bag.
ChatGPT suggested storing each code in a silicone cupcake liner.
Bottom line: My laptop charger was too big to fit into a cupcake liner.
Also, I wasn’t sure how this would work since the other cords would get pushed out of the cupcake liners as they moved around in the backpack.
This seems like a waste of time.
“Traveling without a cell phone”
This is where the ChatGPT tips started to become too much for me.
ChatGPT explains: “You rely on paper maps, physical guidebooks, and conversations with locals to navigate and explore.”
I love using paper maps and chatting to locals for directions and advice, but I don’t like being alone in a new country without a cell phone and not speaking the language.
Bottom line: I wouldn’t volunteer to try this, although I did recently fly from New York City to San Francisco without my phone because my own was damaged.
That meant standing in line for long periods of time with no podcasts to listen to, no videos to watch, and no games to play. Not ideal.
“Travel without luggage”
“Try traveling with only a small backpack or daypack,” ChatGPT says. “Challenge yourself to be a minimalist and only buy what you need along the way.”
I always try to pack light, but not packing anything at all seems like a good idea, and not packing the essentials and buying them along the way doesn’t seem financially feasible.
Conclusion: This has a similar vibe to the cell phone ban proposal. Fine.
“Rubber door stopper alarm”
Doorstops are usually used to hold doors open, but ChatGPT suggested using one to keep a door closed. Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images
For those who’ve watched one too many hotel break-in demos on TikTok, here’s how to wed a door stopper under a closed hotel room door.
According to ChatGPT, this will stop the door from opening if someone tries to get in. You’ll probably also hear the sound of the door being pushed open.
Bott also suggested purchasing a portable door alarm.
Bottom line: this isn’t necessarily a bad safety measure, and some hotel rooms already have door stoppers, so I think I’ll try this out next time I travel alone.
This may become part of my daily routine, along with checking for bedbugs.
“Balloon Navigation”
This has been a wild ride.
ChatGPT says: “Tieing helium balloons to your suitcase makes it easier to spot at baggage claim. Plus, it adds a little fun to your luggage.”
Bottom line: I don’t think the TSA would like this.
Even if you could check your luggage with an inflated balloon tied to it, you’d be surprised if the balloon made it past the baggage handlers and reached your final destination still inflated.
“DIY smartphone stand”
ChatGPT instructed us to make a phone stand using sunglasses.
“The arms of the sunglasses fold down to create a stable base so you can watch movies hands-free,” the product explains.
I had no idea how to do it, but I tried at least five different ways to fold the glasses.
These are the best results we got from the ChatGPT sunglasses hack. Morgan McFall-Johnsen
I guess the phone was just too heavy, and it would easily slip off or fall over, or my glasses would fall under the phone.
The best I could achieve was a little height.
Conclusion: This seems worse than my usual method of propping up my phone, which is leaning it against a water bottle or something heavy.
ChatGPT may have thought this would be useful for watching movies during a flight, but it still doesn’t change the fact that you have to crane your neck to look down at your phone on the tray table.
“Aromatherapy socks”
I’ve tried rosemary sprigs, mint tea bags, and lavender sachets to “keep things fresh” in my luggage. Morgan McFall-Johnsen
Bott suggested stuffing “pleasant-smelling” tea bags into socks or shoes to “keep things fresh.”
I’ve never had a problem storing shoes in my luggage, much less clean the dirty laundry that accumulates on a week-plus trip, but I gave this a try anyway.
I put a sprig of rosemary in one pair of gym shoes, two mint tea bags in the other, and a sachet of lavender in a third pair of shoes.
This was the first time I’ve ever put food in my shoe, and I don’t think it will be the last. Morgan McFall-Johnson
A few days later, I took them out of my suitcase and smelled them, and they still had a faint gym-shoe smell, but this time they smelled minty.
Conclusion: Two perfect tea bags wasted.
“Hula Hoops for Personal Space”
Here’s a great way to blend in with the locals, as shared by ChatGPT: “Bring a foldable hula hoop to create a personal space barrier in crowded places. Simply spin the hula hoop around yourself and you’ve created your own personal space.”
Verdict: This is a joke, right?
Overall, I think the best travel hacks have already been discovered
In the end, I wouldn’t use most of these weird suggestions.
We might continue to use packing apps and carry folded shopping bags, but it’s not revolutionary.
The idea for ChatGPT led me to the conclusion that great travel hacks already exist — as far as I (and ChatGPT) know, there are no more secrets to uncover.
